Storytelling not only plays a fundamental role in public speaking, but it is also one of the most powerful tools of influence that a business leader (or any leader) has at his or her disposal. When I train executives in leadership communication, storytelling is always a major part of the drill.

I work very hard to get my students (whether CEO or undergrad) to learn how to tell their own stories in a compelling manner. Creating and telling one’s own story is not easy, but I encourage you to try it. There are lots of Harvard Business Review readings on the topic. This would be a good place to start. I strongly feel that all present and future business leaders should work on and hone this invaluable skill. At least from my experience as a speaker, consultant, and professor, storytelling does not come easy to most. It can sometimes take a few sessions even for the most seasoned executive to get more comfortable with storytelling. But I have found it to be a very “trainable” skill.

The art of being able to tell stories effectively in a range of business contexts can also be very important. One well placed story can touch and influence in a profound way. When I train executives, I might ask them to tell stories about sharing company vision, aligning constituents along directives, introducing new products, gathering support for an idea, handling objections, conveying company initiatives, showing growth opportunities, and so on. Opportunities for leaders to communicate via storytelling are limitless, and the more you practice, the better you will get.

Leadership and storytelling aside (more on that in later blog entries), we all know that a well placed and well told story can often make all the difference in any presentation.

For example, just last week I spoke to roughly 200 international trade officials and exporters at a conference in the “Southland” (this is LA speak for the Los Angeles area). Right at the beginning of my presentation, I told a story. The idea was to grab the audience and link the story directly to my purpose. I think that worked well enough. But the interesting secondary result was that after the presentation probably a half dozen people approached me because I happened to mention the small state of Connecticut in the story. Some listeners found similarity in the story that I told about growing up in Connecticut, and they connected to my talk because of it. Don’t get me wrong – I am a firm believer that a presentation’s story has to first and foremost support the presentation purpose and be tied to the purpose (and here, the purpose was not about me). But what I was able to do was personalize a business presentation introduction and allow people to connect with me despite the large room setting. The audience – speaker connection is always a good thing, and becomes even more important when leading and/or trying to persuade.

Here is a link to a recent Forbes article, titled The CEO As Storyteller In Chief, which discusses the role of storytelling in business.

Bob